Professional sports just ain’t what they used to be. Now, every player in the NBA is a millionaire, but back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, even the biggest stars didn’t make huge money. We were reminded about those realities last weekend with the death of Walt Bellamy, aged 74, a Hall of Fame NBA center and Olympic champion who played for 14 years as a pro in Chicago, Baltimore, and New York. In 1986, Bellamy played in the NBA Legends […]
For nearly ten years, you have been able to depend on Media Burn to give you free online access to Chicago’s history and people. By now, you know there’s no other way to watch larger-than-life figures like Studs Terkel, Vito Marzullo, Dan Rostenkowski, Bill Veeck, and Mike Royko. In fact, we now have more than 6000 videos produced outside of traditional television which we have saved for posterity, and each and every one of them will only become more valuable […]
Today, Chicago-based architect Stanley Tigerman is being honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Institute of Architects Chicago for “his innovative design in over 175 built works for ‘all levels of society’” as well as the lasting influence of his critical and theoretical writings. Back in 1990, Tigerman was interviewed for an episode of The 90’s, where he espoused his own approach to architecture while levelling a few choice criticisms against the profession as a whole. The resulting […]
Ever wondered what really goes on behind closed doors in Congress? Cameras would never be permitted in closed door meetings today, but in 1981, we managed to shoot a rare peek at an orientation for newly elected House Democrats (including Harold Washington). In it, Majority Whip Dan Rostenkowski, with his typical tell-it-like-it-is attitude, explains to the freshmen how things are really done in D.C. It’s part of the excellent documentary Rostenkowski. This collection of raw footage was digitized through the […]
Since its first broadcast in 1978, “Image Union” has been a place on Chicago public television to celebrate the potential of the next generation of actors, documentarians, animators, writers, and directors. If it is independently produced and it is interesting, it has a chance of being seen on the air. “Image Union” was the first stop in many celebrated artists’ careers. Take, for example, this short film called “The Discipline of DE,” based on a story by William S. Burroughs, […]
How would you settle a bet over how many career triples Pete Rose had? Or what’s the primary export of Peru? Where would you go to find the answer? These days, we’d just turn to the internet, where almost all of recorded human knowledge is collected and readily available at our fingertips. The prevalence of things like iPhones and Google have drastically changed our ability to find and research even the most trivial of topics, so it’s almost astonishing to […]
Although not as well-known as his late brother Fred, Ed Holstein has been an important figure in Chicago’s folk music scene ever since folk first took root in the late 1960s. After getting their start in clubs like The Earl of Old Town and Somebody Else’s Troubles, Ed and his brothers Fred and Alan opened their own club, Holsteins’, which drew prominent performers until it closed in the late 1980s. Considered one of the greatest finger-picking guitarists in Chicago, Ed […]
On July 28, 2013, video pioneer John Reilly died at the age of 74, but his contributions to independent video nationwide will live on. Back in 1969, Reilly and Rudi Stern co-founded Global Village in New York, one of the first places to watch independent “underground” video. It eventually expanded into an annual video festival that lasted 15 years. Reilly produced and directed several video documentaries; two of the best-known are “The Irish Tapes” (1971-74) with Stefan Moore and “Waiting […]